


a deer mistaking candles for headlights

by cosmicpoet



Series: komahina week 2018 [4]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Chapter two, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sick Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2019-07-24 20:57:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16183052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmicpoet/pseuds/cosmicpoet
Summary: After Komaeda is left incapacitated by Souda and Nidai, it's Hinata who finds him.





	a deer mistaking candles for headlights

He’s stuck in his room, playing his role, teaching himself to smile in the mirror for a different reason. It’s not like he has to fake happiness now; he’s finally succumbed to the inevitability of the people around him simply not giving a shit about his wellbeing, and now he has to smile like a villain. Because that’s the narrative he wants to construct. Because it’s easier.

And then there are people in his room, the word _friends_ spitting like oil over a hot fire in the back of his throat, because they’re here to hurt him, and he’s going to let them.

When he’s hit over the back of his head, he wonders if he’s going to be murdered, and the thought comforts him like nothing ever has before. Finally, he’ll prove useful beyond antagonising others for their own sake to get them to push their hope to the surface. He’s nothing more than a vessel for people to improve themselves through, and if Souda wants to murder him, then Komaeda won’t even ask him to make it quick. After all, there’s beauty in a bleeding head wound that only he can find.

But, unfortunately, he wakes up. The sun has slicked him with a layer of cold sweat, not from heat, but from his body reacting to the almost-murder that had the nerve to tantalise him before leaving him empty. It takes him a few minutes of wallowing in his own self-hatred to realise that he can’t move - he’s tied up - and then everything dawns on him at once.

He’s not worthy of being killed for any of these Ultimates. He’s just…not trusted. Which is fair. But that’s not to say it doesn’t hurt.

The day aches across his eyes as each passing minute drills into his mind that nobody cares enough to even notice that he’s missing. Or, perhaps worse, perhaps better, that everybody else was in on the plan to incapacitate him. 

It doesn’t take long before his illnesses begin to hurt him, too. Not only is the mental pain debilitating, but the blow to the head and lack of food make him weary, which in turn allows his body to stop functioning properly. He can’t find it in himself to blame Souda or Nidai, because they don’t know about the conditions that will soon kill him; he only finds motive and reason to blame himself for being the type of person who people want to leave alone to die.

He slips in and out of consciousness, the only thing he’s aware of being the pain in his head and the crushing feeling of asphyxiation in his lungs. If this is how he dies, it will be remarkably unspectacular. And fitting, of course, because what is his life if not a slow, trudging journey towards the invisible?

The end of the day heralds a sunset that he can’t even watch, his body growing cold as things within him begin to give up; not his hope, because he knows he’ll never lose that, but more menial things like his thoughts and his ability to keep his eyes open. He’s not dying, but he’s just so _tired;_ lack of food and an untreated head wound have made him weak.

So, when the door opens, he has no energy left to turn towards whoever is standing there.

And, somehow, by voice alone, he recognises Hinata.

“Komaeda,” he says, “there you are.”

“Here I am,” he replies, his voice hoarse; each word hurts him.

“Jesus, you look bad. Who did this?”

_So everybody else wasn’t in on the plan to take him down…_

“It doesn’t matter.”

“No, it does.”

“Hinata, it doesn’t. Whoever it was…they thought they were doing the right thing. Maybe they were.”

“Hey, if you’re gonna pull any of that shit from the trial, I can just leave.”

“Then leave.”

“No.”

“What?”

“I won’t leave. I’m not letting you die.”

“If I do, you won’t be the Blackened.”

“That’s not…fuck, Komaeda, that’s not the only damn reason I don’t want to leave you. Get it through your head…people care about you.”

“Ha, I’ll believe that when I see it.”

“Then look.”

Hinata walks around so that Komaeda can see him, and the shock on his face isn’t lost when he sees just how terrible of a state Komaeda is in. Slowly, gently, as if he’s scared to break Komaeda, Hinata unties the ropes around him and pulls him up into a sitting position, from which Komaeda immediately falls back to the ground. His entire body is too weak to even hold him up.

He can’t even get the words out to tell Hinata to just let him die, to not waste his time on someone so worthless, when Hinata is scooping him up into his arms and carrying him beyond the threshold of the door. Although his mind wants to protest, tell Hinata that it’s just not worth the effort, he finds himself in an almost-sleep state, curled against Hinata’s chest, thinking about how protection feels kind.

When he feels the softness of his bed underneath him, he flits from his sleepy daze back to reality, where Hinata is putting his hand against his forehead and muttering something about a temperature. 

“I should go and get Tsumiki,” he says, but Komaeda holds onto his hand when he stands, keeping him close.

“No. Please.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want to face the others, not like this.”

“Alright. Fine. But you have to make me a promise.”

“Anything.”

“You’ll let me stay with you tonight. I’ll stay awake, just to keep watch, and if your condition worsens at any point, you’ll let me go and get her with no protests, okay?”

Komaeda nods weakly.

“Alright. I’ll be right back.”

“No, stay,” Komaeda says, embarrassed of how much his voice sounds like he’s begging.

“I’m not leaving you. I’m just going to get you some water and something to eat.”

Although Komaeda knows that he’d rather be hungry and thirsty and _with Hinata_ than ever go without, he lets Hinata leave for five minutes. When he comes back, he’s carrying soup and water.

“You have to eat something before you sleep.”

Komaeda wonders whether Hinata’s talent is the Ultimate Carer, because of how natural it feels to have him play with his hair and help him eat the soup. The shame of being weak still pervades, but it’s muted into something manageable when Hinata looks at him and holds his hand.

“I don’t want you to lose sleep over me,” Komaeda says, and before Hinata can perform any act of self-sacrifice, he moves over in the bed and motions for Hinata to get in, “and besides, it’ll be easier for you to monitor my condition if you’re close. I…I’m sorry…that was forward.”

“Thank you, Komaeda.”

Hinata puts one of his arms around Komaeda in a gentle hug, presumably also feeling for the rise and fall of his chest to check that he’s still breathing. It’s not conventional, but it’s good. And even though Komaeda knows, he _knows,_ that good things don’t last in his life, he settles into a peaceful sleep without this on his mind.

**Author's Note:**

> For Day Four of Komahina Week! Today's prompts are Killing Game/Neo-World Program, so I went with Killing Game. I hope you liked it! Please comment <3
> 
> Title from the Crywank song with the same title.


End file.
